Chapter 4

• Childbirth


  A female social ritual in Europe and US before the 20th century
• Midwives


  • Had no formal training and only offered advice, massages, potions, irrigations, and talismans
• Childbirth in those times

  A "struggle with death" for both mother and the baby
• Professionalized childbirth began in the US (20th century)
• Labor


  The process of giving birth through parturition
• Parturition


  The process of uterine, cervical, and other changes, usually lasting about two weeks, preceding childbirth
• Braxton-Hicks contractions


  False contractions felt during the final months of pregnancy or even as early as the second trimester when the muscles of the uterus tighten for up to two minutes
• Stages of childbirth


  1. Stage 1: 12-14 hours of regular & increasingly frequent uterine contraction and dilation of cervix

  2. Stage 2: 1-2 hours of stronger and closer contraction and baby's head begins to move through the cervix into the vaginal canal

  3. Stage 3: 10-60 minutes of placenta and the remainder of umbilical cord being expelled from the mother
• Electronic fetal monitoring


  • Used to monitor the heartbeat of the fetus throughout the labor and delivery to show how fetus's heart reacts to the stress of uterine contractions
  • Can detect any serious problems and alert the attending physician or midwife that a fetus needs help
  • Has high false-positive rate, suggesting the fetuses are in trouble when they're not
• Vaginal delivery


  The most common or usual technique of giving birth
• Cesarean delivery


  Surgically removed the baby from the uterus through an incision in the mother's abdomen
• Vaginal delivery


  Influences a mother's attachment to the baby due to the action of OXYTOCIN
• Cesarean delivery


  Carries risk of serious complications for the mother (bleeding, infection, damage to pelvic organs), and can also deprive the baby of important benefits of normal birth
• Natural childbirth


  Method of childbirth that seeks to prevent pain by eliminating the mother's fear through education about the physiology of reproduction and training in breathing and relaxation
• Prepared childbirth


  Uses instruction, breathing exercises, and social support to induce controlled physical responses to uterine contractions and reduce fear and pain
• Childbirth without fear method

  • Educates expectant mothers about the physiology of reproduction and trains them in physical fitness and in breathing and relaxation during labor and delivery
• Lamaze method


  • Teaches expectant mothers to work actively with their bodies through controlled breathing
• Leboyer method


  • A woman gives birth in a quiet room under the low lights to reduce stress, and the newborn is gently massaged to ease crying
• No name technique


  • Submersion of the laboring mother in a soothing pool of water
• Bradley method


  • Most extreme; rejects all obstetrical procedures and other medical interventions
• Local anesthesia


  Also called pedunal block
• Analgesic


  Painkiller that reduces the perception of pain by depressing the activity of the central nervous system
• Regional anesthesia


  Epidural or spinal injections injected into a space in the spinal cord between the vertebrae in the lumbar (lower) region
• Neonatal period


  The first four weeks of life, a time of transition from intrauterine dependency to independent existence
• Neonate


  Newborn baby up to 4 weeks old
• Newborn baby (US-based information)

  • 20 inches long and weighs about 7 1/2 pounds
  • Boys tend to be slightly longer and heavier
• Distinctive features of newborns

  • A large head (1/4 of the body length) and a receding chin
  • Skin is pinkish and thin
  • Some newborns are very hairy because of LANUGO - a fuzzy prenatal hair that has not fallen off yet
  • VERNIX CASEOSA - the oily protection against infection that dries within the first few days
  • Sometimes secretes WITCH'S MILK - a secretion that sometimes leaks from the swollen breasts of newborn boys and girls around the third day of life